When the "Hot Coffee" scandal boiled over this past summer, one of the highest-profile people to weigh in on the controversy was Hilary Rodham Clinton. The Democratic junior U.S. senator from New York, former first lady, and likely 2008 presidential candidate jumped on the media uproar over the hidden sex content in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. In July, she called for a Federal Trade Commission investigation into the game's publisher, Rockstar Games, and for federal oversight of game retailers. However, since Rockstar pulled the game from store shelves following it being re-rated Adults Only, Clinton has remained largely silent on game regulation.

Until today, that is.

This afternoon, Clinton's office announced she has written a bill that would institute federal regulation of games sales. Co-authored by longtime game critic Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), the Family Entertainment Protection Act will be jointly submitted by the two legislators when Congress reconvenes in two weeks.

If made law, the Family Entertainment Protection Act would be a "a prohibition against any business for selling or renting a Mature, Adults-Only, or Ratings Pending game to a person who is younger than seventeen." It would punish violators with unspecified fines, though it did not specify if the clerk who sold the game or the retailer where said clerk worked would be punished. "This provision is not aimed at punishing retailers who act in good faith to enforce the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) system," read a statement from Clinton's office.

While the retail part of the bill is similar to laws recently passed in Michigan, Illinois, and California, the Family Entertainment Protection Act goes much farther. It would authorize "the FTC to conduct an annual, random audit of retailers to determine how easy it is for young people to purchase Mature and Adults Only video games and report the findings to Congress." These findings would be part of a larger annual analysis of ESRB game ratings. "This analysis will help ensure that the ESRB ratings system accurately reflects the content in each game and that the ratings system does not change significantly over time," read Clinton's statement.

The bill would also allow private citizens to file complaints with the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection (BCP) "if they find content to be misleading or deceptive." The BCP would issue an annual report on said complaints to Congress as part of the aforementioned annual review.

As justification for the act, Clinton's office claims that "video game content is getting more and more violent and sexually explicit." It cites the recent 10th Annual MediaWise Video and Computer Game Report Card, issued by the National Institute on Media and the Family, which gave the industry a "D+" and said the ESRB was "beyond repair." Also, the study's secret shopper program found that 42 percent of the time boys under 17 were able to buy M-rated games from retailers, with underage girls succeeding 46 percent of the time.

"A majority of parents are feeling increasingly victimized by a culture of violence that makes it difficult to protect their children against influences they find to be inappropriate," read Clinton's statement. "This bill would help empower parents by putting them back in the driver's seat. It would ensure that children can't buy games the video game industry itself has determined to be inappropriate for them."

Despite the strong language, Clinton underlined the fact the Family Entertainment Protection Act would not directly censor games. "Senator Clinton acknowledges that video games are fun and entertaining and does not support any limitations on the production or sale of games to adults," read the statement. "This is about protecting children," she said.

That said, one aspect of the act will undoubtedly send shivers through the industry. Not only will Section III of the bill give the FTC the authority to investigate misleading ratings, it will actually require the body "to conduct an investigation to determine whether what happened with GTA: San Andreas is a pervasive problem."

An even more ominous-sounding aspect of Section III is how it will empower the FTC to "take appropriate action if [Congress] determines that there is a pervasive problem" with the ESRB's rating system. This means a new, federal game ratings which could replace the current system if sufficient fault was found by the FTC.

Link
This is retarded. Like it has been said so many times before, if they are worried about violence in american media then do not only attack videogames, but also the movie industry. Yet the reason they do not do that is because the movie stars pay the politicians during election times to fuel their campaigning.

__________________ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.-Ephesians 2:8-9

Movies are far worst then video games. The things they manage to squeeze into Pg-13 (Which isn't age enforced) is pretty sick at times. (Sick as in the gore, sex, and profanity) Things that should really give a movie a R rating. But in hollywood, rated R films are declining in popularity so they need to squeeze their trash in PG-13 films to make their bucks.

I hope somebody else runs for President (Democratic). The last thing we need is for Hillary Clinton to think she is in a position of mother to everybody. This is the stupidest thing because all kids are going to do is have their parents/elder relative or friend go in and pick it up for them. So what could a game retailer do if a 19 year old walked in one day, bought a mature title, walked outside the shop and then handed it to a 12 year old? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The moral of the story is this ~ The more you place restrictions on something, the more motivated those people who are being restricted will become. Smoking pot is illegal. But I'll bet you that if I really wanted to I could get some pot. Not that I touch the stuff, but just to prove a point.

So what could a game retailer do if a 19 year old walked in one day, bought a mature title, walked outside the shop and then handed it to a 12 year old? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

LOL, one time at babagges my friend and his brother were with me there and his brother is somewhere around 14 - 16 years old (i'm not too sure), but my friend got a game, but his brother wanted to get grand theft auto for the pc. My friend didn't have his id on him, so we were standing right at the register in front of the cashier and my friend's bro asks if I could buy it for him, I said "yeah". The cashier heard the whole thing and didn't do a thing because since I was really the one buying it, even though his bro was the one who gave me the money, the cashier couldn't do a thing about it.

The only reason she is a senator right now is her opponent, who is male, in the last election got up in her face and confronted her during a debate. That made it look like she was being bullied so she won.

She betta not run in 2008 or I might end up having to vote republican. I hope either Colin Powell and Barack Obama run for president though. Cause if that's the case we'll either have the first black president or the first independant.

The only reason she is a senator right now is her opponent, who is male, in the last election got up in her face and confronted her during a debate. That made it look like she was being bullied so she won.

Remember this article in 2008.

OH MAN! I wish I could've bet money that you would make a comment like that. There was something telling me you would and lo and behold you did. You never cease to amaze me dork.

LOL, one time at babagges my friend and his brother were with me there and his brother is somewhere around 14 - 16 years old (i'm not too sure), but my friend got a game, but his brother wanted to get grand theft auto for the pc. My friend didn't have his id on him, so we were standing right at the register in front of the cashier and my friend's bro asks if I could buy it for him, I said "yeah". The cashier heard the whole thing and didn't do a thing because since I was really the one buying it, even though his bro was the one who gave me the money, the cashier couldn't do a thing about it.

That's absolutely allowed, people do that all the time in my store. As long as it isn't someone under 17 (or 18, in the case of AO ratings) buying the game, we just don't care.

No, it really doesn't answer anything. I don't give a rat's ass about Stanley Kubrick nor do I study him or his films. Any movies that even have erections in them are usually rated X by the MPAA. Hell, if you show the folds on skin in the vagina you have to have an NC-17. You can only show vagina pubes.